THREAD: This investigation took up most of my 2025 to produce, and it was published in this weekend's edition of @thecontinent newspaper.
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For what it's worth, I also reached out to the FRUD rebels. Their chief, Mohamed Kadamy explained to me that his forces "were nowhere near the site when [the strike] happened." He added that FRUD rebels, largely recruited from the Afar population, do operate across the Ethiopian-Djiboutian border areas...but that none of the 3 reported Djiboutian strikes ever hit his forces.
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Now I promise you...I am not the conspiracy theory type.
But you have to admit, it looks pretty funny and peculiar in hindsight, how major French state backed media were very prompt to produce headlines placing the strike zone a full 8km away from where it actually happened, and depict the dead as FRUD rebels.
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But people from across the region are unanimous in their disappointment over the silence of this woman, Aisha Mohammed Mussa. Not only does she hail from the Afar ethnicity, she's actually the Ethiopian federal government's Minister of Defense.
Double whammy.
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I reached out to the CEOs of both Turkish state companies whose weapons caused the Siyaru massacre... Haluk Bayraktar of Baykar, and the CEO of Roketsan, Murat Ikinci...about whether they discouraged clients from indiscriminately firing upon civilians, and whether they had any comment about the involvement of their company's weapons in the Siyaru massacre. Silence.
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On June 23 2025, despite the best efforts of Djiboutian activists, the renewal of the French-Djiboutian military pact was ratified. During pre-vote debate, Jean-Paul Lecoq, a communist MP, accused "corrupt" Djiboutian officials of carrying out airstrikes against its people & those of neighbouring Ethiopia.
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But the vote passed with a comfortable majority. The Ethiopian government's silence, the biased media coverage by prominent international and especially French news agencies, and frankly...Lecoq being a communist...meant that his words, however truthful they were, would always be viewed as the ramblings of a radical.
Projet de loi autorisant la ratification du Traité de coopération en matière de défense entre la République française et la République de Djibouti
Projet de loi autorisant la ratification du Traité de coopération en matière de défense entre la République française et la République de Djibouti
Assemblée nationale (www.assemblee-nationale.fr)
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Mariam Mohammed Abdullah was severely injured in the strike. Due to no fault of their own, the massacre of her people, innocent Afar pastoralists, led to the alignment of the geopolitical interests of regional & international powers & a joint effort to depict this mother of eight as a terrorist.
She's a survivor and a brave woman.
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That's it. For a greater understanding of the devastating impact of cheaply manufactured drones in Africa, distributed by the likes of Turkiye...I produced this policy brief for the European Council on Foreign Relations earlier this year, which highlights the increasingly alarming trend that is ravaging communities like Mariam's across the continent.
Deadly skies: Drone warfare in Ethiopia and the future of conflict in Africa – European Council on Foreign Relations
Drone warfare is increasing in Ethiopia and across Africa. These foreign-supplied weapons risk prolonging wars and can help drive governments further away from
ECFR (ecfr.eu)
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You can catch the full story in this weekend's edition of @thecontinent.org newspaper. My investigation is from page 15-19.
Sorry for the length. As always, I'm especially grateful for the kind feedback from the fediverse family. Thank you for your time and for caring about stories from my corner of the world.
Cheers,
ZZ.
The Continent | Africa
The Continent is an award-winning African newspaper, designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp.
The Continent (www.thecontinent.org)
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@ZekuZelalem any idea what the motive for targeting civilians was?
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I'm also curious about this....
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@futureisfoss @thomasjwebb thank you both! I have some theories...driving will get back shortly
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G gustavinobevilacqua@mastodon.cisti.org shared this topic on
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@bbacc @futureisfoss @thomasjwebb
I have theories, although I didnt dwell on them in the story because its mostly speculation, but the Afar-Somali conflict is one that plagues both Ethiopia and Djibouti. And Djibouti, where the Afar are largely on the periphery of power, is believed to back Somali forces in Ethiopia as well. In the context of that broader conflict, this may have been a revenge strike for battlefield losses.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afar–Somali_clashes -
@ZekuZelalem @bbacc @futureisfoss @thomasjwebb
Maybe some readers, seeing Djibouti just as a small speck on the map of Africa, will be surprised to know that its area is 2000 km² larger than that of the state of Israel (more or less that of Lombardy, for our Italian friends).
